HULIAU SERIES:

Clayton Ruley: Clayton Ruley, MSS, MLSP, is a Philadelphia native and is currently the Director of Community Engagement and Volunteer Services at Prevention Point Philadelphia (PPP). He has been at PPP for 12 years, starting in 2008 as an intern while in graduate school at Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research (2010). He has served in roles at Prevention Point from STEP (MAT) Coordinator, Street-side Health Project Coordinator (SHP) and Harm Reduction Service Center (HRSC) Director. Clayton in his current role manages the internal and external communications for the organization while also being a liaison to the community. Clayton also coordinates a large majority of the volunteers and interns that work at PPP during the year.

Kadara Marshall: Kadara Marshall, who was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, is a Waiākea alum, and is also a recent college grad with a degree in Political Science. Kadara has a vested interest in making the Hilo community more aware, and capable of understanding all issues related to BLM movement, and how we all can do better for the Black people of/in this community. Kadara has taken action to increase awareness and educate others, and most recently has been published in the Hawaii Tribune Herald, authoring an article entitled “Black Lives matter: Ignorance is not Bliss." As a former Waiākea High athlete, Kadara was featured in another Tribune Herald article discussing the experience of black athletes on Hawaii Island.

Noah Dolim: Noah Dolim was born and raised on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. After graduating from the Kamehameha Schools, he received his Associate's Degree from Hawaiʻi Community College, his Bachelor's Degree in Hawaiian History from UH Hilo, and his Master's Degree from UH Mānoa. Noah is currently continuing his focus on Hawaiian History as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Irvine. As a product of our UH Hilo community, Noah is excited to share with us his unique experiences as a mixed Black man raised in Hawaiʻi and deeply rooted in Hawaiian culture and now living in the continental US attending a predominantly white institution.

Joy Lehuanani Enomoto: a Kanaka Maoli, African American, Japanese, Caddo Indian, Punjabi, and Scottish visual artist, archivist, and social justice activist. Her work engages with climate justice mapping, extractive colonialism, saltwater conversations that occur within the space of the diaspora, the policing of black and brown bodies, the Black Pacific, demilitarization, and other issues currently affecting the peoples of Oceania. Her artwork and scholarship have been featured in Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai'i (Duke University Press, 2019); the Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Politics (Routledge 2018); Na Wahine Koa: Hawaiian Women for Sovereignty and Demilitarization (University of Hawai'i Press 2018); Finding Meaning: Kaona and Contemporary Hawaiian Literature (University of Arizona Press, 2016); Absolute Humidity (Hardworking Goodlooking, 2018); Amerasia Journal; Bamboo Ridge: Journal of Hawai'i Literature and Arts; Slate Magazine; and Hawai'i Review. Biography information adapted from Project Muse.

Read this piece written by Joy on the subject, "Where will you be? Why Black Lives Matter in the Hawaiian Kingdom?"

Description: Through this presentation, we hope to honor the one year anniversary of the formation of the Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu, and also emphasize the interconnectedness we have to other movements and peoples, including Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Ihumātao, climate change, womenʻs rights, etc. By advocating for the causes most dear to us, we activate, amplify, and connect with voices of other victims of systemic oppression around the world to collectively demand change. This theme of social justice and the reclamation of the good in the world also acknowledges the significance of July 31st as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, the day when Hawaiʻi's sovereignty was once rightfully restored in 1843.

Leilani Lindsey-Kaʻapuni is a cultural practitioner and steadfast protector of Maunakea. She is a keeper of moʻokūʻauhau passed down through generations of her family. Leilani currently works at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and has been a part of the movement to revitalize Hawaiian Language for 30 years. Leilani also serves as the president of Hui Aloha ʻĀina, an organization established in 1893 to preserve and defend Hawaiian Independence.

Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani is a cultural practitioner grounded in the ritual dance of hula ʻaihaʻa. This tradition has guided her important work in hula, education, cultural community development, and ancestral pedagogy delivery to forest scientists. As a committed protector of Mauna a Wākea, Aunty Kekuhi uses protocol to focus and remind kiaʻi of the sacred relationship and spiritual kinship that is the foundation of our engagement with the environment.

Kauilanuimakehaikalani Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani was born and raised in Hawaiʻi. He is a Native Hawaiian artist, designer, traditional practitioner and māhū (LGBTQ+), steeped in the cultural practice of Hula ‘Aiha‘a (Native Hawaiian Dance), ritual chant and dance through Hālau o Kekuhi (Dance School) for over 20 years. He is an active member of Hui Malama I Na ʻIwi Kupuna o Hawaiʻi under the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, repatriating Native Hawaiian remains and funerary objects back to Hawaiʻi, and is a steward of ritual and ceremony of global cultural exchange. He is a Kiaʻi Aloha ʻĀina and has stood in the protection of Mauna a Wākea (2019 - 2020). Kauila graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and in Fashion Design at Parsons The New School in New York City.

Michael Marshall was born in St. Louis Missouri and attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, BFA 1975; Yale University, New Haven, CT, BFA 1977. Professor Marshall has taught full time at the University of Hawaii Hilo since 1984. His campus and community service include time in Chair of the Art, and Performing Arts departments, (director) UHH Campus Center Gallery, committees of the Volcano Art Center, the East Hawaii Cultural Center, and the Hawaii State Foundation of Culture and the ARts; AYSO, Haʻaheo, and Hilo Makule soccer clubs volunteer and co-founder of the Hilo miniBig soccer tournament. Learn more at M. Marshall Exhibition and Creative Projects

Shar Tuiasoa: Punky Aloha Studio is the design and illustration studio of Shar Tuiasoa. Based in Hawaii, on Oahu, in the town of Kailua, where Shar was born and raised. Shar spent 6 years studying Fine Art and earning a certificate in Fine Art from her local community college before moving on the Laguna College of Art and Design where she earned her BFA in Illustration and Entertainment Design. Punky Aloha Studio is a multi-disciplinary design and illustration studio, with experience working on commercial illustration for advertising and marketing, children's illustrations, stationary, and surface designs. Her primary aesthetics are bold, graphic, vibrant and young with mid-century modern influences, however she prides herself on her strong ability to adapt to any style. Shar is a strong advocate for using Art to engage with the community and to have needed conversations. Learn more at: Artist Biography & Artwork

Haley Kailiehu: Born and raised in the ʻili ʻāina of Kukuipuka, a beautiful puʻuhonua in the ahupuaʻa of Kahakuloa, on the island of Maui. Her first experience with art was through making lei poʻo with her mom from an early age. Through these experiences, she developed a passion for creativity and a keen sense for artistic expression that mirrors the world around her. In 2009, Haley graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a BA in Art, with a focus in Drawing and Painting. In 2012, Haley acquired an MEdT (Masters in Education and Teaching) from the Hoʻokulāiwi Center for Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Education. Her study was focused on looking at ways in which art education could serve as a pathway for our Native Hawaiian haumāna (students) to connect to and become more aware our moʻolelo (histories) and traditions and thus of their own kuleana (responsibilities) within their own lives and communities. As an artist and researcher she is currently interested and invested in creating community centered and ‘āina rich experiences that allow the current and future generations of Kanaka ʻŌiwi to (re)learn and assert their kuleana, (re)establish connections to our moʻolelo and kūpuna (ancestors), and (re)affirm our rightful place in our homeland. Haley is very passionate about community- and ʻāina- based mural projects and has spent years dedicating time and energy towards developing her methods and approach to community building and education through art. Learn more at: Artist Biography & Artwork